While on the way to Mapelton, IA to judge an FFA Radio competition, Chris Benson’s mind was focused on multiple other tasks. Immediately after departing the college, the trip was briefly delayed by a stop at the post office. Once the trip resumed, Benson’s cell phone rang and he answered abruptly.

The mainder of the short trip was a juggling act between phone conversations and making small talk with his passenger. His left hand rested comfortably on the steering wheel of his crew cab pickup, while his right clutched his cell phone. Benson was oblivious to how his cell phone had become an added appendage. The passenger was oblivious that this was his niche lifestyle.

Benson, a 1994 Morningside graduate has always been passionate about working in the agriculture industry. He is also fond of a busy lifestyle. With his degree in Livestock Marketing, he started off his post college life at the Dakota City, NE Tyson beef plant.

A year later, he got into Pork Sales and became a Telephone Sales Representative (TSR) at Corporate in Dakota Dunes, SD.

“I spent a good majority of the time of the first ten years at Tyson on the phone selling pork and beef. I like the fast pace of the meat industry,” commented Benson.

During that time period, Benson had many different titles and responsibilities. He was the Sales Manager for pork bellies and was then promoted to Director of Pork Sales and Pricing. Eventually, he moved up in the ranks to be the VP of that department.

Benson especially enjoyed working as the VP for Pork Sales and Pricing. “It was a great challenge,” explained Benson. He liked how there was something new each day and that the markets were always changing.

Benson was moved away from his niche nd into foreign territory. He transitioned into being the VP of Business Development, where he was in charge of new product development. Benson described that the pace was different.

He admitted, “This was honestly not my strength.”

This change of pace changed even more than Benson had originally intended. The opportunity to work at the Tyson Headquarters in Springdale, AR came up. With a leap of faith, Benson accepted the new challenge. The Northwest Iowa native moved down South. For three years, his main focus at work was to develop and manage a new division in the Foodservice Group.

Arkansas was not all it was cut out to be. Everything was different. The job. Pace. Lifestyle. Benson decided that the upper Midwest was the best place for him and returned to Dakota Dunes with the same role, only in the Fresh Meats department.

When Benson came back, he had to adjust back into another lifestyle.

“That was in 2009 and I was really checked out of my career at that point. I was searching for a change. I had a good friend tell me ‘if you are thinking of making a change, don’t let go of the vine you’re on until you have one in reach.’ I think that is great advice for anyone out there that might be burned out or ready to quit.”

After spending twenty years with Tyson, Benson found the change he was looking for. However, this time it was in familiar territory. In 2014 Benson came back to Morningside. Not as a student, but as a faculty member.

Chris Benson is currently the Director of the Applied Agricultural and Food Studies Department. The Ag department was just recently added back into the school’s curriculum. Benson’s role is to build industry relationships and manage the externship program. He also teaches some classes as well. One of them being a markets class.

Instead of selling pork bellies, he is now selling the Morningside Ag program and why people should hire its students.

Sophomore Ag students Nicole Langbein and Melissa Pauley will each be participating in the externship program their senior year. This program is similar to an internship; however, the student spends the whole semester just working at the industry best fit for them.

Langbein and Pauley are both confident with Benson’s abilities to make them marketable in the workforce.

“I am confident in his abilities because he has been involved in the agriculture industry and has valuable experience,” explains Langbein.

They also agree that his position at the college suits him well.

Pauley states, “Given Mr. Benson’s past work experience as a salesperson, I feel his position within the Ag department is an excellent niche for him to utilize his skills. His work with employers to set up internships and externships is, in a way, selling the student to an employer.”

It seems unanimous that Morningside is a good fit for Benson.

“I like that I’m still being very busy. Sometimes too busy,” Benson admits. He is still in constant communication by spending lots of time on the phone. Benson also likes how this job allows him to spend more time outside of the office.

Once again Benson has found his niche. He found it right back where he had started. At Morningside College.

While on the way to Mapelton, IA to judge an FFA Radio competition, Chris Benson’s mind was focused on multiple other tasks. Immediately after departing the college, the trip was briefly delayed by a stop at the post office. Once the trip resumed, Benson’s cell phone rang and he answered abruptly . The remainder of the short trip was a juggling act between phone conversations and making small talk with his passenger. His left hand rested comfortably on the steering wheel of his crew cab pickup, while his right clutched his cell phone. Benson was oblivious to how his cell phone had become an added appendage.

1994 Morningside College graduate Chris Benson has always been passionate about working in the agriculture industry. He is also fond of a busy lifestyle. With his degree in Livestock Marketing he started off his post college life at the Dakota City, NE Tyson beef plant. A year later, he got into Pork Sales and became a Telephone Sales Representative (TSR) at Corporate in Dakota Dunes, SD.

“I spent a good majority of the time of the first ten years at Tyson on the phone selling pork and beef. I like the fast pace of the meat industry,” commented Benson.

During that time period, Benson had many different titles and responsibilities. He was the Sales Manager for pork bellies and was then promoted to Director of Pork Sales and Pricing. Eventually, he moved up in the ranks to be the VP of that department.

Benson really enjoyed working as the VP for Pork Sales and Pricing. “It was a great challenge,” explained Benson. He liked how there was something new each day and that the markets were always changing.

Benson got moved away from his niche and into foreign territory. He transitioned into being the VP of Business Development, where he was in charge of new product development. Benson described that the pace was different and admitted that that area was not his forte.

This change of pace changed even more than Benson had originally intended. The opportunity to work at the Tyson Headquarters in Springdale, AR came up. With a leap of faith, Benson accepted the new challenge. The Northwest Iowa boy moved with his young family down South. For three years, his main focus at work was to develop and manage a new division in the Foodservice Group.

By the downward glance and shake of his head, one could easily tell that Arkansas was not all it was cut out to be. Everything was different. The job. Pace. Lifestyle. His fire was burned out. He decided that the upper Midwest was the best place for him and his family. Benson returned to Dakota Dunes with the same role, only in the Fresh Meats department.

When Benson came back, he had to adjust back into another lifestyle.

“That was in 2009 and I was really checked out of my career at that point. I was searching for a change. I had a good friend tell me ‘if you are thinking of making a change, don’t let go of the vine you’re on until you have one in reach.’ I think that is great advice for anyone out there that might be burned out or ready to quit.”

After spending twenty years with Tyson, Benson found the change he was looking for. However, this time it was in familiar territory. In 2014 Benson came back to Morningside. Not as a student, but as a faculty member.

Chris Benson is currently the Director of the Applied Agricultural and Food Studies Department. The Ag department was just recently added back into the school’s curriculum. Benson’s role is to build industry relationships and manage the externship program. He also teaches some classes as well. One of them being a markets class.

Instead of selling pork bellies, he is now selling the Morningside Ag program and why people should hire its students.

“I like that I’m still being very busy. Sometimes too busy,” admitted Benson. He is still in constant communication by spending lots of time on the phone. Benson also likes how this job allows him to spend more time outside of the office.

Once again Benson has found his niche. He found it right back where he had started. At Morningside College.

The Unlikely Disciple is not as notorious as The Holy Bible, yet it earns a spot on the bedside table.

As an aspiring young journalist, college student Kevin Roose is fascinated and perplexed with the idea of a “Bible Boot Camp” evangelical college. The culture intrigues him so much that he digs deeper into this by transferring to Liberty University as a non-believer to write about his experiences. These experiences include obeying a laundry list of forbidden rules, deep spiritual and non spiritual conversations with peers and pastors, school trips, and having to hide his true identity of a non believer. Roose ends up developing conflicted feelings when his semester draws to a close and has to decide how to move on with his life.

Here is a little background on Roose and why he is qualified to write this book.

Kevin Roose currently works as a news director and producer. Before attaining that position, Roose was a good enough writer to have his documentations of Liberty to be published when he was in his early 20s. He let his curiosity take him to a place that a lot of people could hardly imagine or didn’t even know existed. Roose is a good writer because he is humorous, informative, and engaging. He is also good at pacing each chapter and making flashbacks and flash-forwards blend together smoothly. Being a good journalist and writing about a thought-provoking journey makes him qualified to do this book. Basically, Roose knows what he’s doing and he’s good at it.

Of course writers want their pieces to be read. Roose obviously liked the feedback of his article for Liberty’s newspaper TheChampion. As a writer, Roose wants to evoke feelings and make people think. It is not a lecture and factual based book like the actual Holy Bible. He’s not telling us that Christianity is good or bad. Roose is sharing his testimony. Instead he wants to provide a window into his world that helps us see why he thinks the way he does. This will hopefully encourage the readers to reflect on their religious or non- religious upbringing’s and also look at the opposing side with less critical eyes. Most of all, he just wants to share his unique experience.

Roose also wanted to accomplish the task of addressing controversial issues. Immoral or premarital sex, homosexuality, and gender roles between husband and wife. Christians and those on the fence should both agree that Roose made a bold move to be willingly open to address such hot button topics in a non judgmental way.

Roose very clearly wrote this story by observation and participation. He also mentioned interviewing the founder of the college to get more insight for himself. He dove into his self-made assignment by doing his best to keep an open mind about Christianity and the university in general. He wanted to give an honest and open view of what it was like for someone of his upbringing to experience such a dramatically different culture. There are many different revelations about self-discovery that are relatable to other college students.

It wasn’t written in a journal like style. There was no random organization. Roose’s thoughts and observations were all nicely composed to tell a compelling story. Each of his “entries” was presented as a chapter.

Journalists are supposed to be objective. Roose makes that clear when he decides to go to Liberty with an open mind to learn about a new college culture. He does include his thoughts in situations, but he doesn’t come out and say that his opinion is necessarily the correct one.

Roose did not treat this experience as just another news story. He was emotionally and spiritually involved with this project. This would be because he wasn’t assigned to do this. He made this his own quest.

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book. Even though I like to consider myself a good Christian, Liberty University would be a whole new culture for me that I wouldn’t feel worthy of being part of. Roose and I clearly had different upbringings, but I was able to find lots of similarities between the two of us. For example, aside of religion, we both have an interest in journalism and can’t take our parents out in public because they’re embarrassing. The book also made me reflect on my own views on what it means to be a Christian and what education I have on it. I felt bad because this “sinner” seems to know more things than I do.

I also like the fact that it wasn’t presented as a lecture. I like hearing inspirational stories on why we need the Gospel and how it is a Christian’s duty to share it in order to save as many souls as possible. In this case, I would have been bored if that was all in 300 page book.

A thing that disappointed me was that I was expecting a juvenile delinquent to go through this journey. Roose didn’t necessarily seem like a bad sinner/person before hand. Yes, he lacked exposure, but he didn’t seem to have as strong of views against Christianity as I was expecting. This would have made for an even more dramatic and inspirational story.

Overall, this book does deserve an Amen. On a five-star scale, I give it a four and a half.

The last person I talked to (my roommate) was fatigued and was letting the Monday- after- break get the best of her. While walking to breakfast, her hair was still damp and didn’t have time to dry it. Foundation was caked on her face. Bags under her eye’s. She was out of breath half way from Dimmitt to the caf. The weight of her backpack slowed her pace and prevented her from standing up straight.

“What was that big thud in the living room last night or was I just dreaming?” I asked.

My roommate sighs. “My backpack which had my laptop in it fell off of the futon. It happened just as I came back to the room at 2am last night.”

At precisely 11 a.m the double-glass doors to the cafeteria are propped open for lunch. The cafeteria transforms into a jungle as a herd of students both male and female feverishly dig out their IDs from their backpacks or pockets while forming a crude single- file line. Once the computer monitor beeps, confirming the payment of the meal, the line disassembles to various parts of the cafeteria.

Friends travel in their respective packs and file into booths, high tables and low tables in the same general area as the day before. The freshly wiped tables become cluttered with ID’s, cell phones and jangling keys. An array of colorful backpacks decorate the floor or empty chairs. As peers meet up in the food lines, conversations about classes and professors fill up the room.

Students see the cafeteria as a social place. They look more forward to seeing friends rather than eating the food.

According to The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), lunchtime in a cafeteria should be an enjoyable part of the day for students. It offers a break from class work and is a place to relax and socialize with peers.

“Where should we sit?” asks Ashley Peterson, even though she has a predestination f the general area in mind. Without hesitating for an answer, she navigates her way through the maze of tables and students to a high table.

“What’s there to eat today? Anything good? What’s in that far line?” are all follow up questions that Peterson often asks to whoever is accompanying her that day.

After meandering through all of her options, she finally settles for soup, which is her way of expressing that nothing else is good that day.

Even though students often complain about the food, they find themselves constantly coming back just to hangout. Morningside junior Ashley Peterson, is one of those students.

Peterson is a habitual cafeteria patron, despite her almost daily complaints of repetitiveness of the food provided.

Peterson commented that she would not miss the cafeteria after graduation because of the lack of variety of food each week. However, she does like that fact that it seems like a social place. Peterson’s description of the cafeteria mirrors what the AOTA states. “It’s a place to get away from homework and studying and a chance to see people who aren’t seen regularly.”

Sometimes the only time Peterson see’s her roommate is in the cafeteria. If neither of them have to be anywhere in a hurry, they stay and chat long after their plates are cleaned off.

“I look forward to my Savannah-time,” joked Peterson.

As for Morningside junior Ariana Rogers, she has a slightly different perspective on the cafeteria. She already misses the social aspect of it.

For her first two years of college, she lived on campus and had a meal plan. Now she is currently living in her own apartment off campus and no longer has a meal plan.

Now that Rogers is off campus, she prepares her own meals and mostly eats alone. “I can make whatever I’m hungry for at home and pay so much less for it than what the meal plan is worth.” aid Rogers. That is what she considers to be a benefit of not eating on campus. A con is that Rogers lacks the social interaction.

Rogers enjoyed going to the cafeteria for the most part, even if the food was just “pretty okay.” Often times her work at Subway conflicted with her eating at the cafeteria, but when she could go, she enjoyed bonding with roommates and hall mates.

“Looking at it from an outside perspective, I can definitely say that it does seem to be a place to hangout when there isn’t much time outside of classes and work and everything else that keeps the student body busy,” explained Rogers.

Even though students may have differing opinions on the food, most find themselves coming back multiple times a week. The social atmosphere and the ability to bond with fellow classmates is an important part of college life.

It’s pretty safe to say that the cafeteria, especially at Morningside, is a big part of college culture.

While on the way to Mapelton, IA to judge an FFA Radio competition, Chris Benson’s mind was focused on multiple other tasks. Immediately after departing the college, the trip was briefly delayed by a stop at the post office. Once the trip resumed, Benson’s cell phone rang and he answered abruptly . The remainder of the short trip was a juggling act between phone conversations and making small talk with his passenger. His left hand rested comfortably on the steering wheel of his crew cab pickup, while his right clutched his cell phone. Benson was oblivious to how his cell phone had become an added appendage.

Marti Hitz is a real team player when it comes to coaches switching things up. Marti was playing in her second to last soccer game of her career against Northwestern College. At the half, another teammate and herself were put into the game to substitute out under performing back players. Marti and her teammate were frustrated with the coach for being placed in a position that wasn’t their normal spots. Because of Marti’s soft spoken nature and ability to put other people’s opinions aside, she did not argue with her coach. Marti was cooperative with the situation, and it may have been that cooperation that won Morningside the game.

The film Gattaca mirrors the qualities of it’s main protagonist. It’s striving to be perfect, yet there are flaws that hold it back.

Gattaca’s uneventful and mostly predictable plot was barely able to hold my attention for the 1 hour and 46- minute duration. The secret identity concept of the film and the futuristic theme is what kept me tied in.

The sci-fi/drama was released in 1997 and is rated PG-13. Ethan Hawke plays the protagonist Vincent, who possesses invalid genes, so he is not pure enough to go into outer-space. In order to make his dreams a reality, Vincent adopts the identity of Jerome Murrow played by Jude Law. Jerome has “valid” genes, but has become paralyzed waste down due to an accident. While the real Jerome stays hidden, Vincent goes through drastic changes in order to become Jerome’s double in order to get accepted into Gattaca Aerospace. When the mission commander is murdered, Vincent’s coworker and love interest Irene (Uma Thurman) starts to get suspicious of who he really is.

Jude Law was the stand-out performer for me. I have seen him as the lovable Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes films. Law showed his range by portraying a depressed paraplegic. Hawke and Thurman performed well too, but just didn’t seem to have much of an arc. Even though Hawke had to portray two separate identities, the both seemed exactly the same.

The story line was unique, but it wasn’t the direction I thought the film would go. I was more interested with the flashback/origin scene of Vincent and his transformation into Jerome. The “perfect genetics” details are what drew me in. As the plot unfolded it became too predictable and went more into a hide-and-seek game. Some scenes seemed unnecessary and repetitive so the movie seemed to drag. For example, there were multiple scenes of Vincent scrubbing down his body and “transforming” into Jerome. Also, there were also multiple scenes with Vincent in the doctor’s office where tests are being done. Despite being less than two hours done, I grew impatient and just wanted to see the film wrapped up. Less time could have been spent on the underwhelming scenes and replaced with more action packed scenes.

The opening and ending were the best parts of the film because they were the most suspenseful, even though I found the ending to be unsatisfying. The opening nicely demonstrated the contrast of valid and invalid genes by showing two brothers. One who is valid and one who is invalid. The ending had a bit of a plot twist that I should have seen coming, but didn’t so that ended up leaving me with unanswered questions. Leaving the viewer in a slight case of bewilderment during the credits was a good tactic. The rest of the film seemed like a strung-out, uneventful build up to the climax.

The part that upset the most was that I don’t think Ethan Hawke and Jude Law look that similar. As a viewer, I could easily distinguish the two even after Vincent goes through his “transformation”. Whenever there was some type of blood or drug test, the real Jerome’s picture would come up and nobody seemed to notice how different it was from Vincent. Also, I don’t understand why Vincent didn’t pick up on Jerome’s British accent. The director should have cast more similar looking actors, or should have had the makeup team put more of an effort into making their faces match up. There also should have been more attention to detail in other aspects than just similar appearances.

Another choice that I didn’t particularly care for were the outdoors scenes with the yellow filter. I get how they are going for the futuristic look, but to me it seemed too unnatural.

The intended audience would be science fiction fanatics. It takes place in a futuristic world (well, what the 90s thought looked futuristic) and has futuristic medical operations and technologies. It’s less of a love story and more about finding one’s true identity and accepting their flaws. People who are not into the sci-fi genre and who prefer more action will be bored with Gattaca.

Gattaca possesses the qualities of being a good film, like having decent actors and an interesting story-line, but it has “invalid” qualities that keeps it from blasting off. By invalid qualities, I mean little character arcs, lack of action, and repetitive scenes.

This is the first presidential election that I am old enough to vote in. It was exciting to finally be able to participate; however, I’m not fond of either candidate. What a way to kick of my voting career.

A 126 mile round trip to go home and vote allowed me time to myself to reflect on the election. For not caring about politics, I have noticed that I have been more interested in watching debates and discussing issues with my peers. Maybe it’s because now I feel like I have more of a voice.

As I was driving, I was listening to Q 102. The main morning topic revolved around the election in a comical way. The host was reading anonymous Facebook rants about candidates, while the song “I’m Proud to Be an American” played in the background. One person commented that anyone who votes for Hillary is a spawn of the devil. Another person posted that she would divorce her husband if he voted for Trump. This made me laugh out loud. The posts were just ridiculous and the music just made it more ironic.

Almost immediately after laughing at this, I realized how much people are turning this election into a joke for an entertainment factor. They are making all of this negativity comical. Maybe that is the real reason I have been more “hooked” on this election season. I just naturally like the entertainment of it. Should Americans feel ashamed about this? Is this the only way to reach millennials like me?

Even though I don’t live and breathe politics, I’m very intrigued to see who wins. However, I don’t think that the drama will go away any time soon. November 9 will be worse than November 8 in my opinion.

At precisely 11 a.m everyday, the double-glass doors to the cafeteria are propped open for lunch. The cafeteria transforms into a jungle as a herd of students oth male and female feverishly dig out their IDs from their backpacks or pockets while forming a crude single- file line. Once the computer monitor beeps, confirming the payment of the meal, the line disassembles to various parts of the cafeteria.

Large groups, typically sports groups, travel in their respective packs to their “official tables”. The rest file into booths, high tables and low tables in the same general area as the day before. The freshly wiped tables become cluttered with ID’s, cell phones and jangling keys. An array of colorful backpacks decorate the floor or empty chairs, which serve s the universal sign for “this spot has been taken”.

Claiming certain tables or areas is actually a natural thing for humans according to the article Territoriality on Study-Body-Language.com. This act is called a secondary-type of territory since the students don’t directly own the chairs and tables. Just like animals, humans feel the need to border their favorite spots. Sometimes the size or location of the territory links to one’s social status.

Students like to be in control of things as much as possible. Not only does this include their choice of seating, but also the ability to make choices on what they want to eat and the simplicity of how to get it. A cafeteria can initiate the thinking process for these decisions.

“Where should we sit?” asks Ashley Peterson, even though she has a predestination of the general area in mind. Without hesitating for an answer, she navigates her way through the maze of tables and students to a high table.

“What’s there to eat today? Anything good? What’s in that far line?” are all follow up questions that Peterson often asks to whoever is accompanying her that day.

After meandering through all of her options, she finally settles for soup, which her way of expressing that nothing else if good that day.

Even though students often complain about the food, the find themselves constantly coming back for various reasons. For Morningside junior, Ashley Peterson, simplicity is her main motive.

Peterson is a habitual cafeteria eater, despite her almost daily complaints of repetitiveness about it. The reason she goes there so often and why she thinks other students do as well is because the food is already made. Students don’t necessarily have to buy items to make their own food.

Peterson commented that she would not miss the cafeteria after graduation because of the lack of variety of food each week. However, she does like that fact that it seems like a social place. Peterson described the cafeteria as being, “A place to get away from homework and studying and a chance to see people who aren’t seen regularly.”

As for Morningside junior Ariana Rogers, she has a slightly different perspective on the cafeteria. She also has a different take on the simplicity of getting food.

For her first two years of college, she lived on campus and had a meal plan. Now she is currently living in her own apartment off campus and no longer has a meal plan.

Now that Roger’s is off campus, she takes advantage of her version of freedom of choice, by preparing her own meals. She see’s this as a simpler way to get food that she knows she will like. “I can make whatever I’m hungry for at home and pay so much less for it, than what the meal plan is worth.” aid Rogers.

However, Rogers did enjoy going to the cafeteria for the most part, even if the food was just “pretty okay”. Often times her work at Subway conflicted with her eating at the cafeteria, but when she could go, she enjoyed bonding with roommates and hall mates.

“Looking at it from an outside perspective, I can definitely say that it does seem to be a place to hang out when there isn’t much time outside of classes and work and everything else that keeps the student body busy.” explained Rogers.

Even though students may have differing opinions on the food, they find themselves coming back multiple times a week. Without even realizing it, students are taking control of their surroundings and using their freedom of choice. The addition of the social atmosphere and the ability to bond with fellow classmates is an important part of college life.

It’s pretty safe to say that the cafeteria, especially at Morningside, is a big part of college culture.